TIMS, or Telecommunication Instructional Modeling System, is an electronic device invented by Tim Hooper and developed by Australian engineering company Emona Instruments that is used as a telecommunications trainer in educational settings and universities.[1][2][3]
History
TIMS was designed at the University of New South Wales by Tim Hooper in 1971. It was developed to run student experiments for electrical engineering communications courses.[4][5] Hooper’s concept was developed into the current TIMS model in the late 1980s.[6][7] In 1986, the project won a competition organized by Electronics Australia for development work using the Texas Instruments TMS320.[8][9] Emona Instruments also received an award for TIMS at the fifth Secrets of Australian ICT Innovation Competition.[9]
Methodology
TIMS Methodology Diagram
TIMS uses a block diagram-based interface for experiments in the classroom. It can model mathematical equations to simulate electric signals, or it can use block diagrams to simulate telecommunications systems.[4][7][10] It uses a different hardware card to represent functions for each block of the diagram.[11]
The block diagram approach to modeling the mathematics of a telecommunication system has also been ported across to other domains.[15][16]
Simulation
Where the blocks are patched together onscreen to mimic the hardware implementation but with a simulation engine (known as TutorTIMS).[15][16]
Remote access
It can be used by multiple students at once across the internet or LAN via a browser based client screen. This utilises a statistical time division multiplexing architecture in the control unit. The method is applied both to Telecommunications and Electronics Laboratories (known as netCIRCUITlabs).[15][16]
